Reinforced concrete (RC) bearing walls are common lateral and gravity load carrying structural systems in buildings. The primary design direction for RC walls is for in-plane loads. However, severe exposure to fire can compromise the out-of-plane stability of these structures under service-level gravity loads, causing catastrophic failure. Accordingly, the overall objective of this dissertation is to develop experimental evidence on the behavior of RC bearing walls under one-sided fire, which is the most probable fire exposure for wall structures.Seven full-scale wall specimens were subjected to coupled thermo-mechanical loading. A portable gas-fire furnace was developed for heating one side of each wall over half of its height through the ASTM E119 standard fire. Load cells, thermocouples, strain gauges, and displacement/rotation sensors were used to monitor the specimens. Additionally, near-full-field deformations and temperatures on selected wall surfaces were captured by researchers from the University of Texas at Tyler using digital image correlation and infrared thermography. Each wall was fixed at the base and free to displace vertically and rotate at the top. A constant service-level gravity load was applied at the top. In the out-of-plane lateral direction, a hydraulic actuator was used at the top to apply prescribed loads or provide displacement restraint. The specimens that survived the fire were subjected to reversed-cyclic out-of-plane lateral displacements immediately after fire and after unrestrained natural cooling. In a numerical investigation, each wall was modeled using the structural fire engineering software, SAFIR, and the finite element software, ABAQUS. Shortcomings were identified in the capabilities of both programs.Through this investigation, it was found that RC walls can withstand long periods of time under fire. However, consideration must be given to the axial load, reinforcement design, and wall thickness. Under one-sided fire, large through-thickness thermal gradients result in unsymmetrical degradation of steel and concrete. Restrained thermal deformations result in significant through-thickness curvatures, axial-flexural cracks, diagonal cracks, and shear forces. The lack of proper reinforcement can lead to catastrophic buckling failure of a wall. The results from this dissertation can ultimately be used to develop accurate numerical models and load-based structural design methods for fire-exposed walls.